a700hitter

This may be the biggest challenge for the sport. MLB is making trips to Japan, Australia etc and participating in the WBC to build global popularity of the sport but they are neglecting to address its waning popularity among younger generations in the USA. Their priorities seem to be off a bit since the games are played here and broadcasts are in US time zones.

Bradley brings the glove that the other two don't have. Middlebrooks has the power potential that the other 2 don't have, but he is not showing it thus far in the season. He's a legit 30 HR type guy -- a Mark Reynolds type with better defense. Bogaerts is the best rounded talent of the 3, but he is showing nothing special on either side of the ball thus far. Unfortunately, we need more time for these guys to figure it out or not. It's also unfortunate that 3 guys are learning on the job at the same time. It is a lineup killer.

It's up for grabs.

Wasted a really nice comeback. I am surprised that the lefty owned Miller tonight. He looked pretty dominant.

Damn!! Froze him on the inside 3-2 pitch after 7 pitches outside. Have to giv the pitcher a tip of the cap going inside 3-2 after not going there in the AB.

Great AB by Gomes. Bases loaded 10 pitch walk to tie the game.

Thank goodness that he doesn't play the field or we would have to pay him $30 million/year.

Ortiz with his 4th hit and 4th RBI!! One run down. Let's go Naps!!!

Let' pull out this game against their pen!!

If only Ortiz could teach our other guys how to hit. My goodness, is he a special hitter.

Peavy is on a 7 run rule start tonight.

I have noticed that they score a ton of runs.

Bogey hit that with authority.

Ortiz with the first inning bomb for a 1-0 lead.

Peavy vs. Nolasco If we lose tonight, I blame Jacko for screwing with the mojo.

The way the game has progressed I don't think there is any going back. That wouldn't be realistic. I am just looking at the current day development of pitchers with a critical eye. Baseball as a whole looks at pitchers as huge capital investments that need to be protected and coddled. Pitcher's salaries were so much lower relative to society 30 or 40 years ago that they were more disposable. However, I have to wonder whether the coddling approach maximizes the value of the assets. As I mentioned in my prior post, players in the 60's and 70's came up to the bigs at a younger age. They generally had 6-8 good seasons in them. A few had substantially more. About the time those pitchers started to flame out would be when they would be eligible for free agency today. Essentially, the team they came up with used them up before they would have hit free agency in today's market. Today these pitchers are coddled until they get to free agency and get the huge bucks and then they blow out their arms anyway while making the big bucks, so what has been gained by the owners?

I heard that CC made a visit to Dr. Andrews. It sounds like the concern is not just for his knee.

If the average innings in a career were higher in earlier years, it would indicate that pitchers got more out of their arms than they do today. The measure of durability isn't seasons. It is innings pitched. I am not arguing that pitching isn't inherently dangerous. I am also not arguing that today's training and conditioning methods are not superior to the past. What I am suggesting is that the approach to pitching may be the culprit. Today, scouts are putting radar guns on kids at age 13. That is ridiculous. The emphasis for the last 25 years has been velocity from a very early age. The empasis for kids should be learning to throw strikes and command the zone. Any scout worth his salt can tell if a kid has good velocity without putting a gun on the kid. The kid's hear about the numbers that they are hitting on the guns and they are trying to tick up the velocity when they should be striving to throw strikes and get outs. Pitchers don't pace themselves today like they did years ago. If a pitcher's velocity is down a few ticks, they take him out and send him for xrays. In the 60's and 70's, they threw more secondary or offspeed pitches to get through an outing when they were a little tired. Seaver and Ryan weren't outliers. They were standouts, but not because they were workhorses. Every staff had guys that pitched a lot of innings. The Cards had Gibson and Carlton. The Dodgers had Drysdale, Koufax, Sutton and Osteen. The Giants had Marichal and Perry. The Twins had Dean Chance, Kaat, and Jim Perry and then Blyleven. The Tigers had McLain, Lolich and Wilson. The Mets had Seaver and Koosman. Even the lowly Guardians had Sam McDowell and Tiant. I could go on and on. Some of them were finished by age 30, but even those guys got 6-8 good seasons in the bigs.

But are the average innings pitched in a career more or less now than in th 60's and 70's?

A post Mariano world will be very uncomfortable for Yankee fans. They had a sure thing in the 9th innin for almost 20 years. That is such a luxury.

So much emphasis is put on radar readings from when they are just kids that they over-tax their arms before they are physically mature. When pitchers were conditioned to go 9 innings, the condition of their legs were more important than today. The better conditioned legs and more aerobically fit bodies took the pressure off their arms. Also, they had to pace their stuff so they had something left in the late innings. They needed to get better command of secondary and off speed pitches. All of today's modern conditioning methods and pitch count theories has had the result of conditioning these kids to blow out their arms early in their careers. That has been the result. It's not bad luck or better diagnosis tools. IMO, the training methods and use of pitchers is the culprit. They need to rethink these methods from the ground up.

Two wins in a row by Jacko!! I look forward to your next game thread.

Herrerra stinks. I don't need stats to know that.

Bogaerts played that ball like it was a hand grenade.

AJ with 2 RBI. Others may have a different opinion, but I do like hitters that make a lot of contact. I went to a Yankee Sox game where Salty k'd his first 4 times up before making contact in his first AB. In is last 2 ABs he was swinging early in the count desperately trying not to continue k'ng. It was very frustrating to watch especially with runners on 3rd and less than 2 outs.